King Charles III at Highgrove Coronation Meadows © Robin Bell
King Charles III
40 Years of Support: Patron of The Wildlife Trusts since 1977
In April 1977, King Charles III, accepted the invitation to become the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts’ Patron.
His Majesty King Charles III at the royal premiere of 1978 film Watership Down. L-R Tim Sands, Gren Lucas and Christopher Cadbury
Watership Down
In July 1978, His Majesty announced his intention that proceeds from the Royal Premier of Watership Down would be donated to the Wildlife Trusts. This was the beginning of over 40 years of support for the Trusts.
His Majesty King Charles III speaks to young Watch members at the launch of the British Wildlife Appeal, 1985
British Wildlife Appeal
King Charles III launched our first national appeal, the British Wildlife Appeal, at the Natural History Museum in London in October 1985. With the backing of his Majesty and Sir David Attenborough, the appeal raised in excess of £16 million for wildlife.
"[The Wildlife Trust's 1990 Health of the UK report] made us face up to the state of our own, rather special piece of the natural world, here and now."
Paul Gompertz, Director of Devon Wildlife Trust (left), with Sir David Attenborough and His Majesty King Charles III on a Culm grassland site, 1992
Health of the UK report
A knowledgeable conservationist, our Patron has supported defining moments within the UK's conservation movement. His Majesty has spoken at the launch of significant reports such as the 1990 Health of the UK report, which he declared made us “face up to the state of our own rather special piece of the natural world, here and now.”
King Charles III at Highgrove Coronation Meadows © Robin Bell
Leading by example
In 1990, His Majesty announced that the use of peat would be banned in the gardens of his home at Highgrove and any landscape projects within the Duchy of Cornwall in support of our Peatlands Campaign.
In 1992, King Charles III supported us by speaking at the launch of the Low Flows: Dying of Thirst report at Devon Wildlife Trust, promoting our Water for Wildlife campaign.
Coronation Meadows
In 2013, King Charles III launched Coronation Meadows to honour the 60th year of the late Queen’s accession to the throne. In the face of the catastrophic loss of 97% of our wildflower meadows since the 1930s, the plan was to create new and restored meadows using donor seed from remaining fragments of ancient and traditional meadows.
The Wildlife Trusts and Plantlife – charities for whom the former Prince of Wales was patron – worked together to identify 60 species-rich meadows which are known as Coronation Meadows, one for every year of the Queen’s reign at that time. These special places became donors to provide precious seed to increase the amount of valuable and beautiful wildflower habitat elsewhere. In June we’ll be celebrating the remarkable success of this project and announcing the number of newly created and restored meadows that have resulted from the project.
His Majesty King Charles III launching the Water For Wildlife campaign 1992
Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature
This project was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund between 2023-2025 and encouraged more people to grow food in a wildlife-friendly way, a topic very close to His Majesty's heart. It was a partnership between The Wildlife Trusts, the WI, Garden Organic and Incredible Edible.
His Majesty King Charles III formally opening Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust's Lower Woods Reserve in 1997
Supporting our special places
Throughout the years, His Majesty has shown his support in person at many of our nature reserves, including Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust's Lower Woods and Manx Wildlife Trust’s Close Sartfield wildflower meadows.
King Charles III at Dorset Wildlife Trust's Kingcombe Nature Reserve in 2017, celebrating its 30 years anniversary © Katharine Davies
King Charles III has also worked very closely with several Trusts on the Save our Squirrels campaign, including work to create a buffer zone across the south of Scotland to prevent the northward spread of the squirrel pox virus.
The Wildlife Trusts are extremely grateful for His Majesty's support over the past four decades.
You can read more about The Wildlife Trusts and our relationship with King Charles III in our centenary celebration book, Wildlife in Trust: A hundred years of nature conservation by Tim Sands.